Uzumaki Naruto
by calatrava
Summary: The Devil is building his army. Uzumaki Naruto is looking for something that God wants to stay hidden. That is what makes him more dangerous.
1. Part I

**Uzumaki Naruto**

I have this urge to name all my future fics Uzumaki Naruto. This is another teaser that will probably be finished, sooner or later.

Dialogue normal/external speech  
_Dialogue_ inner thoughts  
_**Dialogue**_ Kyuubi speaking aloud  
Dialogue Kyuubi thinking/musing

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any other franchise

* * *

**Part I**

_We all had dreams when we were kids._

_I wanted so much, so fast that things span out of control. Being a ninja in a shinobi village sounded awesome, so I gave that a shot. It was ok in the early years, until I realised that I had to kill people. Normally, that wouldn't be a problem, if there was just cause._

_Money and politics was not just cause._

_But what the hell was I to do then? I spent my childhood dreaming of rescuing princesses, fighting bandits, getting the respect of Kakashi and Sasuke. Maybe find lost treasure or something. It was stupidly ironic. I had the skill set of a killer, but I wanted out._

_But where the hell was I going to do afterwards? It's not like I could tell people I was good at sneaking around, stealing things and bashing people up when they were acting like idiots. Those were what I found to be 'career limiting moves' outside the shinobi profession._

_But then again I couldn't stay in the system. There were times when I looked at myself and couldn't recognise my own face. It was too hard, too bitter, too..._

_I'm out of words. Stupid Academy. Teach me to steal, stalk and throw knives. They just ignore the shit about taxes, vocabulary and non lethal force resolutions._

_It occurs to me that I'm an angry and bitter man before my time. I have to think back to how it all started._

_Urgh. It wasn't pretty. _

* * *

**Konoha  
Hokage's Office**

"Naruto, are you sure that this is what you want?"

The jinchuuriki nodded decisively, his eyes full of surety as he stood ready to hand back his hitai-ate to Tsunade who looked quite upset at his change of mind.

"Are you really, really sure?" she grated on with all the solemnity that she could muster with a sake cup in her hand that threatened to burst under pressure.

With a despondent smile Naruto gave a sigh before staring at his hands.

"You know, I never really knew why you hated blood so much. Do you remember when we first met?"

The blonde smiled at how the incorrigible and supremely self assured boy had the arrogance to challenge her to a fight all those years ago. And how his innocence and earnestness managed to unlock a part of her heart that she thought was lost forever.

"You wanted to kick my ass because I was bad mouthing Sarutobi," she said wryly.

The teen smiled sheepishly before rubbing the back of his head, "Yeah, I don't really know what I was on then. I blame Jiraiya for that."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, I mean I was travelling with him and all he did was mooch off my money and try to hit on women when he said he was going to train me."

Her hazel eyes hardened slightly before she shook her head in disappointment, "That pervert."

Both of them shared a secretive smile before Naruto looked at his hands once again, "But ... I don't like killing people," he said quietly.

Her features softening in sympathy, the Senju stood up and gave her favourite shinobi a bone crushing hug that Naruto revelled in.

"I know," she whispered softly, "but this is what we do. Some people just deserve to die Naruto."

"I know that," he spoke back with agreement, " it isn't nice, but sometimes people just won't change and if I do nothing, then even more people will get hurt. But all these assassinations for money and politics..."

He trailed off before levelling his soulful cerulean orbs onto hers that made her heart beat quicker to the oblivious male, "It's disgusting."

Somehow she knew of the catalyst for his sudden change in heart, "This was about Ozawa Maria wasn't it?"

His eyes widened up in guilt as he nodded slowly. Tsunade saw the compassion and self loathing play on his face before she rested her forehead on his.

"I'm sorry but you were the only one that could have done it. And you saved so many lives by –"

"By killing a girl that dared to become a politician in her country?" asked Naruto dangerously, pulling away from the Fire Shadow as he stalked over to the office window.

With thin lips Tsunade lashed out with her displeasure, "Don't you dare give me that crap Naruto! I probably started this whole kunoichi empowerment movement and I will be damned if you judge me on that."

"Then why did you give me that mission order then?" he asked in agony.

Unwilling to see the pain in his eyes, she looked into the distance as she whispered out, "What would you have me do? She was going to cause a civil war with her massive steps. People were taking up arms for her, willing to tear their village into pieces. Set fathers against their sons. Cousin against cousins. Brothers against brothers. Once it started, it would have never stopped."

Naruto stayed silent as he digested her words, the justifications running hollow as he remembered the weary acceptance in Maria's face as he ambushed her in the darkness.

"It would have raged and other nations would have stepped in. It has happened before you know, it is what started the Second Secret Shinobi War."

Naruto closed his eyes stubbornly, refusing to let himself by comforted by the platitudes that he knew were false. That even Tsunade knew were false as he stared into his hands.

"Maybe," he conceded with disgust, " but she was trapped by her twisted supporters. Those who were using them to further their own agenda. They were the ones that we should have killed. Animals," he spat out.

Tsunade stayed silent, aware that Naruto went after them with his own special brand of justice that had effectively ended the stand off in the North East. The status quo had been maintained by the blood of the innocent.

"Necessity knows no morals Naruto," she whispered out.

"That is why I am getting out," he repeated.

"Are you sure, don't you want to be Hokage?" Tsunade asked desperately.

Naruto had a lump in his throat as he struggled vainly to say no. He had built his  
entire life on his singular goal of becoming Konoha's Fire Shadow. It was what he had sacrificed his childhood over, bled over, had endured countless trials and tribulations over. To give it up seemed like a betrayal of his nindo.

_Then again, killing innocent women was never my nindo either..._

He stood up and Tsunade could see a part of Naruto die that day in her office as she pushed him for his answer. A part of her mourned for the loss that weighed heavily on his mind as she wanted to do nothing more than to sit down and demand that Naruto outdrink her. He would take on her challenge like any guy would and she would indecently flirt with him until he would run away from her teasing.

The jinchuuriki slowly walked over to her and hung his head slightly, "I, I, I'm sorry."

Seeing how badly his decision was weighing down on him, the blonde once again embraced the civilian to be with some guilty pleasure.

"If this makes you happy..." she started off with hesitation, her warm brown eyes begging him to reconsider.

The blond took a deep swallow but couldn't back down now, "It will."

"Dammit! I only accepted this job so I could pass it on to you!" screamed out Tsunade in frustration.

Naruto stared at her desk with some trepidation, "Yeah, I was a bit of an idiot when I was a kid."

"What am I going to do now then?" she pouted out.

With a foxy smile he went up to her and gave her a light hug, whispering in her ear, "Sucker."

Swearing, the Hokage gave him a negligent smack to his cheeks. The blond flew back before hitting the wall and dissipated into smoke.

Her eyes narrowing at his cowardice, she called out for Shizune:

"Bring the real Uzumaki Naruto to me now!"

* * *

**Konoha  
Ichiraku's Ramen Emporium **

"Geez Naruto, what are you going to do now?"

The blond shrugged with little care as he was busy shovelling ramen down his throat, making appreciative sounds as he chewed the savoury noodles at great speed.

"Baka! Slow down!" chided Ino as she watched her friend eat like a duck.

Choji gave an expansive shrug before digging into his noodles as well, "Don't you kinda need money or something?"

The jinchuuriki let out a satisfied sigh before tilting his bowl to savour the soup base at the very bottom. Taking deep gulps of the savoury stock, he closed his eyes and entered into a state that his friends called "Naruto's happy place".

"He's doing it again," commented Ino wryly.

"Tceh. We know this, but why do we keep on coming here then?" Shikamaru asked with a sigh.

"Because this is the best fucking place in the world! Dattebayo!"

"Naruto! Language!" chided Ayame with indignation as she glared at him.

"Ano! Ano! I'm sorry, but the ramen made me do it!" said Naruto with a straight face.

His friends turned to face him with scepticism. His face was artfully innocent and he flashed his trademarked foxy smile at all of them, "It's true."

Ino turned to face the amused waitress before whispering loudly, "What are you putting in his noodles?"

With the same whisper she smirked and wrapped her arms around Naruto fondly, "Just lots of sedatives to keep him less high. Can you imagine him without his daily fix of Ichiraku ramen?"

The blond leaned back and looked into Ayame's brown eyes, "Do you really drug me?"

She nodded with mock seriousness and bent down to whisper into his ear, "Of course. It is a important public service that we provide to Konoha."

"Ah, I get it now. You also put something in there to get me addicted as well," he accused playfully.

Sniffing at that, she held her head up high before making her declaration, "We don't need to do that. Unlike some of our competitors."

Choji nodded and finished his bite before answering, "This place is pretty good. Especially after you expanded into a brick and mortar place. I really like what you did with the place."

With a sunny smile she gave a low bow before speaking earnestly, "And we are thankful for the glowing reviews that the Akimichi clan has provided us."

He blushed slightly at the thanks, but waived it off, "Nothing but the truth. Naruto does have good taste."

The blond puffed his chest out at that.

"At times," amended Choji, unwilling to inflate Naruto's ego anymore than was healthy.

With an amused grin the Nara sipped at his tea before getting back to his original question, "But honestly Naruto. What are you going to do with your life now?"

The ex-shinboi's grin faltered slightly as he started pushing the remnants of his meal with his chopsticks, "Eh. Who knows? I'm still young. Healthy. Good looking. Awesome. I'll find something."

Ino gave him an admiring look before swatting him over the head, "Yeah right. You're not quite the charming playboy yet that will woo women with your sophistication and worldly ways."

Naruto pouted at them, crossing his arms in an offended manner before he fixed his puppy dog eyes upon Ayame, "Tell me she's lying Ayame. It's not true, is it?"

The girl felt conflicted in what response to actually give her close friend.

Seeing the subtle sexual tension develop Shikamaru decided to intervene and save himself the trouble of seeing the potentially awkward scene any further, "What will you do for money?"

"I get paid unemployment benefits."

They all blinked at him in surprise, "You do?"

"Yeah, doesn't everybody?" he asked in confusion.

"Hell no!" exclaimed Ino with jealousy.

"Yeah, Konoha doesn't quite tax people enough for that to happen," Shikamaru said suspiciously.

"But Tsunade said that retiring nin are given an allowance so they can adjust to civilian life afterwards," Naruto defended stubbornly.

Ayame shook her head before taking a seat and leaning against Naruto, "That may be true, but you have been 'retired' for six months already. It wouldn't last that long."

"But that means that she ..."

They saw Naruto gain understanding before he had a sad smile on his face.

"Tsunade really likes you," Choji said suggestively.

"Apparently I remind her of her brother," he said sadly.

The Nara and Akimichi exchanged a somewhat lecherous glance before Ino and Ayame shot them dirty looks.

"Perverts," whispered Ino with disgust.

Naruto, being somewhat unaware of the implications, just looked confused before fingering the pendant that the Godaime have given him all the while ago. He had never really understood how you could purchase a mountain with it, but the thought amused him nonetheless.

"She really does care for me," he whispered.

"Yeah, if she is paying for your living expenses even after you quit being one of her own. How does it feel being Tsunade's boy toy?" teased Ino.

With a somewhat guilty look Naruto looked up in denial, "That hasn't happened yet!"

"Hasn't?!" shouted out all his friends in shock.

Naruto felt some nervous sweat gather on the back of his neck as he tried to correct himself, "I mean, that's not it. That's not it at all! We are just close because we saved each others lives," he responded hastily, trying to shelf away certain fantasies that he had entertained late at night.

"Pfft. Lie all you want, we know the truth," Choji said with a wink.

Crossing his arms, the blond fixed them with an arrogant look before standing up, "At least I have the military leader of a shinobi village on my side."

Ino couldn't resist the opening so she took it, "On your side, or underneath you? Or does she like to be on top?"

"Arggh! Shut up about that!" Naruto whined out petulantly.

"But no seriously, what are you going to do now?" Shikamaru pressed with uncharacteristic force.

The jinchuuriki gave a nonchalant shrug, "Why do you care so much?"

"A bored Naruto means a destructive Naruto," pointed out the genius.

Naruto cocked his head like he had realised something profound, "You know, you're right!"

"Of course I am," acknowledge Shikamaru without losing a beat.

"I really should perfect that Rasen-Shuriken of mine!"

With that the boy leaped to his feet and exited the restaurant in a rush.

Shikamaru groaned and dropped his head to the table, wincing at the damage Naruto's 'training' would cause, "Oh kami. Somebody call the ANBU!"

Ayame just looked at the vacant spot where the boy had just been before standing up as well and yelling, "You didn't pay for your meal as well! Cheapskate!"

* * *

**Konoha  
Training Field Seventy Two **

Naruto grimaced as he gingerly bandaged his hands up, his motions awkward where every movement made him grit his teeth a bit more.

"You know, you could get Sakura to do that for you micro-penis."

The blond ignored Sai's perfunctory taunt as he badly tied off the knot before collapsing onto the ground, utterly spent as he surveyed the results of his damage.

"Yeah I could. But then I would have to hear her bitch at me for an hour. And then she would tell Shizune. Who would then tell Tsunade. That's like getting bitched at cubed!"

"I never knew that you could do higher level maths," Sai commented cattily.

"I'm just full of awesome surprises aren't I? But eh, the bastard fox can take care of it soon enough. Just takes a few hours as the lazy fucker has gotten more efficient lately. I just need to stop the bleeding because it's a hassle to clean blood out of clothes."

"You do your own laundry? You're such a domesticated micro-penis."

"Could a micro-penis rearrange the landscape like that?" he asked sarcastically.

The pale faced artist looked at the massive craters that dotted Training Field Seventy Two and shrugged his shoulders. The area was gouged with deep, perfectly symmetrical holes that were at times a kilometre wide. The cost was that Naruto's hand was a shredded mess where he could clearly see pearly white bone sticking through.

"Still can't get it right?"

Naruto started to get defensive over Sai's tone, "Hey, I'm working on it. This is like a S classed jutsu man!"

"It's no good if you can only use it once," commented Sai dryly.

"Yeah, well, that's why I'm training. This is much more complicated than those ink clones that you use," Naruto responded arrogantly.

"Perhaps," allowed the nin amiably, his ink brush still in his hand as he made some finished touches on the sketch he was working on.

"So, whatcha drawing?"

Sai put the finishing touches on the canvas before passing it over to the teen.

Naruto chuckled at the artfully rendered masterpiece depicting his destructive jutsu in progress, "Not bad. Nice use of colour and dimension."

Sai looked at him oddly before giving a slight snort.

"What?" asked Naruto with some hurt in his voice.

"Since when did you appreciate art?" he asked pointedly.

The jinchuuriki crossed his arms and rolled his eyes, "Just being polite, geez. Does it have a name?"

Sai rubbed his chin for a few moments before nodding his head decisively, "I think I shall call this… Impotent Man railing at Nature."

Naruto's forehead started throbbing uncontrollably as he had to restrain his urges to go and strangle the ex 'Ne' operative.

"Remind me why we are friends again?" he asked plaintively.

"My sunny and charming personality attracts dipshits like you."

Naruto choked at the lie before pointing his finger at his former teammate, "Man, who the fuck are you kidding? You may be a yaoi fangirl's dream, along with that bastard Sasuke-"

Sai's head whipped around suddenly and gave Naruto an impassive look that promised a lot of pain if he didn't stop his train of thought. The blond just ignored it with a smirk and ploughed ahead.

"I'm sure you're really popular to them as you lie so well. Ino still think's you're pretty good looking from back then. But really, all they are imagining when they are with you is Sasuke putting his hard, throbbing cock into your –"

With a growl the shinobi's ink brush blurred into motion and summoned animals around him.

"Pfft. Is that shit supposed to scare me? I'm Uzumaki Naruto bitch!"

The nin stayed silent before giving a slight smile, "You sure are."

With the unspoken truce declared, both of them relaxed and sat back, enjoying the comfortable silence between the two members of Team Seven.

"Why did you do it?" asked Sai suddenly.

Naruto was expecting questions from all of his friends about his sudden choice to quit the shinobi forces, but he didn't think that Sai would care that much about it.

"You want the truth?" Naruto asked seriously.

"Why would I want anything else?" asked Sai with confusion.

The blond took up a leaf in his hand and played with it, twirling it over in his fingers as he struggled to find the right words that would not bare his soul to the enigmatic ninja that he called a friend.

"How can we keep on doing stuff like this?" he asked softly.

"What do you mean?" Sai responded with curiosity.

"The fighting, the killing, the stealing, the violence?"

Sai blinked a bit before shrugging, "It's the only thing that I know."

Naruto's heart broke a bit at hearing that, but the ninja wasn't finished.

"We do a necessary yet morally … questionable job that no one really understands. I don't see why you have issues. You still have an urge to kick people's asses and engaged in gratuitous violence," he finished dryly.

Naruto coloured a bit before recovering, "I was just a kid back then!"

"You still scream it out as a greeting to some people," Sai recalled with a smirk.

The jinchuuriki stopped and hung his head a bit, "Yeah, well, call it a force of habit. And it's only to some people," he whined out.

Sai gave a wide false smile before continuing, "But seriously. Your entire life, your identity even, was built around your goal of becoming Hokage. How could you walk away from that?"

The blue eyed ex-shinobi closed his eyes as he struggled with the words that were on the tip of his tongue. He finally found something just as Sai was losing his patience.

"Did you ever want something when you were a kid?"

The shinobi shook his head before answering in a monotone, "My entire existence was a controlled experiment designed to make me the most effective weapon possible for Konoha."

The blond winced at that before he scratched his head, "Ok, well, can you pretend that you were a kid then?"

"Sure, why not."

Naruto's eyes misted over slightly as he began to feel a sense of acute melancholy, "I was an orphan that wasn't even sure that my name was even right. No one ever told me who my parents were until I figured it out by myself."

"Yes. The resemblance is quite uncanny, even if most people chose to ignore it."

"So yeah, I had nothing. People avoided me. I grew up in a dump learning to live by myself as a kid. Then I see this kind old man that everyone respected. Shinobi, civvie, it didn't matter. They had that look in their eyes that I wanted. And when you're a kid, you can want things pretty badly."

"Is that it?" asked Sai dubiously.

"Well, I thought being a ninja would be pretty cool. Use shinobi skills, rescue princesses, finding treasure, being in a team that respected you, that was gold to a lonely kid like me."

"Then what happened?"

With some reluctance Naruto dragged out the name that haunted him, "Ozawa Maria."

At that answer Sai's eyes widened slowly in realisation, "Oh. You were the one that …"

There was a sudden tension in the air that made him hesitate in finishing that sentence. Naruto's eyes hardened as they challenged him into saying something.

"Come on. Say it for what it was. I murdered her," spat out the blond in self loathing.

"I believe the appropriate term is assassination," corrected Sai gently.

Naruto snorted at the distinction before waving it away, "That's just a load of shit. I murdered a girl and people expect me to be happy about it. That's just fucking sick."

"Rebellions and revolutions are dangerous things Naruto," warned Sai, "they have a habit of spiralling out of control and becoming raging wildfires where everybody loses."

The jinchuuriki refused to accept that as he stubbornly shook his head, "She didn't deserve to die. But I was the good obedient shinobi, following orders even when my heart told me to let her life. To go and help her like I did for all those other people."

"Orders are orders. Why don't you just blame Tsunade and move on you pansy?"

Naruto sighed again before burying his face into this hands, "Believe me I have tried. I cursed her, refused to do any missions that involved killing, I outright ignored mission requests. I was the most insubordinate shit chucking a sad and she was patient with me. Man, I owe her so much."

Sai raised his eyebrows and was about to make a comment before he was cut off by the jinchuuriki.

"And don't you start as well. There is nothing going on between me and the Hokage."

"Sure there isn't," drawled the artist as he twirled his brush in the air, "she just happens to have a really, really soft spot in her heart for her darling Naruto-kun."

"Screw you man. But back to the point, I realised that as long as I was a ninja, I would be asked to do things that my… conscience would say no to. That it was never going to stop. And that as Hokage, I would have to ask the next generation to do the same."

He looked Sai in the eyes as he made his admission, "I can kinda handle being the one doing the dirty work. It's on my soul. But to ask a kid like Konohamaru, Moegi or someone else? As Hokage, those hard decisions and hard orders will be there and … I don't want to be one giving them out. I never had a childhood, and I really don't want to be the one taking it away from anyone else."

"What happened to your need for respect?" asked Sai with confusion.

The boy shrugged indifferently, "I don't really care that much more. The people that are important to me realise how special they are to me. That's all that matters. I can't make everyone happy."

"This is surprisingly … mature of you," observed Sai.

"You all think I'm a ramen obsessed idiot don't you?"

"Pretty much. Dobe," he added for good measure.

Naruto spluttered at that before shooting back, "Screw you, you , you anal slut!"

"Hey hey, let's not say things that we will regret," warned Sai.

Naruto chuckled grimly before his eyes lost focus again, "Fine, but see how mature you are when every time you close your eyes to sleep you see a pair of innocent eyes stare back at you, begging you to not to kill her. Or to beg you to make it quick. I couldn't sleep for weeks after that."

Sai had a compulsive habit of keeping tabs on people that he considered to be his friend. It was a short list and hearing Naruto's explanation helped him connect the dots, "Is that why you took every C rank mission for like a month? One after another, without even spending any leave?"

"Yeah… I needed a distraction," admitted the blond with a sad smile.

"You're telling me that you didn't sleep for an entire month because you assassinated a woman?" Sai asked with disbelief.

"Yeah, well, I don't know what that makes me," Naruto confessed freely.

"A limp dicked pussy!" he shot back in mock disgust.

Naruto snorted before giving him the finger, "Fuck you. I just couldn't continue with it man. Why are you doing what you do Sai?"

"I know nothing else. I was born as a weapon and I guess I will die as a weapon"

Naruto gave him a sympathetic look before speaking again, "Man, that is no way to live. That is just existing. I-I just want to be happy. Being a shinobi wasn't going to make me happy."

He felt the passion behind his words and realised that he had much to reflect upon, "So what now? Don't you need a job or something?"

"Yeah, eventually. I don't like living off charity. I'm sure there's something that I can do."

"Well, I'm sure that there is always the option of being a garbage man. I could pay you to do my laundry as well."

"Pftt. I'll show you!"

* * *

_I should have known better than to think it was going to be that simple._

_Konoha might not have liked me, but they needed me because I was their ace in the hole if things went to hell._

_I realised I spent most of my life being sheltered because of Tsunade and I have never really thanked her for it. I should do it before I die._

_As things are I don't think that I will last that much longer. _


	2. Part II

**Uzumaki Naruto**

Dialogue normal/external speech  
_Dialogue_ inner thoughts  
_**Dialogue**_ Kyuubi speaking aloud  
Dialogue Kyuubi thinking/musing

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any other franchise

* * *

**Part II**

_I figured it would be cool to be paid for doing nothing. _

_I was wrong. So very wrong.  
_

_It was so boring. Having no purpose, no motivation, it was like I was a puppet with my strings cut. Sure I could buy anything I wanted and do anything I wanted, but there's only so much sleep that you can do before it gets old._

_In a weird way I found something worthwhile after quitting the shinobi life. It was like a godsend.  
_

_It should have been good and meaningful. But my life has a weird way of throwing things at me that look like blessings in disguise. There are times I wonder if I should have remained a stupid and naive kid, if only to stop myself from thinking about Konoha's underbelly._

_It was dank, dirty and full of shit. _

_Literally at times._

_But when I think about Miyo and how pathetically grateful she was to me, I would do it all over again._

_I think. _

_It's hard for me to think clearly these days. Too much shit has happened since the beginning. My clarity is lost and becomes anger and hate. My two best buddies on my shoulder giving me the power to move on and take the hits._

_To adapt._

_To overcome._

_To succeed._

_I think I'm crazy at times._

_People just smile when I tell them that and just say that I'm Uzumaki Naruto._

_Which is just great. My name is now synonymous with insanity._

_I wanted it to be associated with awesome, but I guess I will have to take what I can get.  
_

* * *

**Konoha  
Hyuuga Household**

"You know, you have to make a choice real soon."

The two Hyuuga men faced each other as they played a game of go under the lofty branches of a sakura tree. The sun shined upon them, casting flickering shadows as each of them carefully placed their pieces upon the wooden board.

"Do not remind me," grated out Hiashi as he tried to ignore his cousin's voice.

Hiro twirled the remnants of his green tea, watching how the leaves swirled within the currents of his cup. His mid length hair wafted gently as Hiashi stared at his kinsmen, wondering what his intentions were.

He looked like the stereotypical Hyuuga, with cold lavender eyes and dignified demeanour. But Hiashi knew the cold look of cynicism that crossed his face, only to be crushed by the antipathy that it usually replaced. Despite this he was a perceptive listening and hopelessly intelligent. The two of them were bonded by blood and mutual interests, often banding together in the silken power plays within the Hyuuga council.

Hiro ignored the thinly veiled threat in his voice and pushed ahead gently, "They are both over the age of majority. Clan tradition demands-"

"Demands that I make the choice to brand one of my children like cattle!" he raged, slamming his fists onto the go board for emphasis, flinging the glass pieces to the ground.

Unfazed by the outburst, the lavender eyed Hyuuga looked at Hiashi steadily before continuing, "Regardless of how you might phrase it, the decision must be made."

"But it doesn't make any sense at all," he insisted with desperation..

Hiro's lips quirked into a grotesque approximation of a smirk, "It is always the case that the privileged few have the sway over the majority. We just take it to the most logical extreme."

"Don't you dare try and rationalise this!" Hiashi spat out in naked disgust.

With an exasperated sigh Hiro held his hands up high, "What do you want me to do? Bare my forehead and get branded? Willingly become a slave, a servant? Are you willing to the same cousin?" he asked sarcastically.

Hiashi's forehead creased into a sneer as he regarded his cousin with contempt, "How noble and compassionate of you to feel for our family."

With an expression of detached apathy, the younger man just rubbed his temples over the issue, "Well, I admit that it is highly unusual but it is there for a reason."

Hiashi's face hardened even further as he turned away, "That … reason is not as compelling as it once was."

"Possibly," allowed Hiro, "but it isn't a risk that we take lightly. And be realistic. Would you expect any member of the Main Branch, used to their freedom and privileges, to give it up just so that we can all be 'free'?"

Hiashi had to scoff at that, "That is a terrible reason to let our flesh and blood suffer under our own hands."

Hiro remained silent until he lowered his voice to a serious whisper, "The only solution is that the entire Hyuuga Council be … _removed_."

The Hyuuga patriarch balked at that, "Surely there could be something –"

"But nothing!" shot back Hiro viciously, "It's one extreme to the next. Those old men will not tolerate this and will use all their influence to prevent this and kill everyone in 'accidents' if they find out or if you fail."

Hiashi was left feeling uncomfortable with the idea of massacring the entire older generation of the Hyuuga clan.

Seeing his words having the requisite impact, Hiro nodded coldly before taking a sip of green tea, "Either way the position is untenable. For the status quo to change, it will require the death and murders of someone. And can you hazard a guess to who will be caught within this glorious enfilade?"

Hiashi knew the answer but did not want to verbalise it.

"The very people that we are trying to protect! The Main Branch will either compel them to fight us, or have them commit seppuku in a last ditch effort to spite us. Either way they end up losing, unless you think that having half the clan neutralised being an acceptable loss. All for a better future of course," Hiro finished sadly.

There was a brief period of silence as the patriarch digested Hiro's words. An idea came to him which he wanted to express, "What if the ANBU were to … _intervene_?"

Hiro's eyes widened before he shook it vigorously, "I doubt the Hokage would allow us to use her own personal forces to clean house."

Hiashi closed his eyes in disagreement, "I don't know about that. Tsunade is unlike any other Hokage that we have had before."

With a small laugh Hiro put down his teacup and started to smirk, "What, the whole boy toy obsession she has for Uzumaki?"

The elder Hyuuga returned the smile before coughing, "Other Fire Shadows have had other odder fetishes and perversions. At least this one involves a human being."

Grimacing at that, Hiro had to shake his head to clear it of images that he didn't want to see ever again, "Urgh. Granted, but still, she has been quite forward and direct in her dealings with the village. I am not sure that she is impressed with the _juin jutsu_."

Facing Hiashi, he asked the most important question of the evening, "But would she want to?"

The older man gave an uneasy shrug of his shoulders, "I do not see why not. It looks poorly to the rest of the world that we practice ritualised slavery upon our own family."

Hiro resisted the urge to wag his fingers to his cousin, "You must know that Tsunade cares little about appearances. In some ways she is the perfect successor of Sarutobi. She can make the difficult decisions without letting the political ramifications overwhelm her," he pointed out.

Seeing that Hiashi had no answer to that Hiro just waved away their idle banter towards more concrete issues, "Either way, that is all too speculative for now. If you had to choose an heiress, who would it be?"

Hiashi was silent, drawn into a deep reflection that soon had him lost in memories, "I don't know."

His eyes warmed up as he thought of his two daughters that were at times so similar yet different.

"Hinata has the form and grace, but she doesn't have the will to control the polite wolves that make up the council," he commented sadly.

His thoughts grew even more pensive when he thought of his youngest daughter, "Hanabi's form is technically excellent if not inspired. But she is way too impetuous and willing to step on people's toes for her to ever compromise."

"Hmm, there is no easy choice is there?" commented Hiro with concern.

"Is there ever when you are condemning your child to slavery?" asked Hiashi rhetorically.

Nodding his head in agreement, Hiro was struck by a sudden realisation, "I think it is particularly hard when you have daughters."

"What do you mean?"

Hiro pinched the bridge of his nose before continuing. "If you had two sons, it would be easier to justify to yourself that he can handle it. A test of character for him to be a man. Another obstacle to overcome in life. But when it's a girl, your instincts really kick in don't they?"

The Hyuuga could only nod in agreement, "I only want was is best for my children. They deserve nothing less."

"And having daughters makes you want to shelter and protect them, while when having sons you would indulge them a bit more. Perhaps be a bit more willing to let them endure the _juin jutsu_. Funny that."

"When you have children, particularly daughters, you will understand how precious they are to you," Hiashi said with confidence.

"That is not going to happen. Ever," the younger Hyuuga said flatly

Hiashi chuckled grimly at his declaration, "You probably will marry. For convenience if not love."

Hiro acceded the point with a nod of his head, "Possibly, but having a child in this clan would force me to make decisions that are too hard."

"Coward," Hiashi accused flatly.

"That may be. I would rather not bring a child into this world knowing what lies waiting for them."

"Then help me change it," the lavender eyed man asked strongly.

Hiro felt uncomfortable with the treasonous talk right in the clan household, "That's asking for a lot, especially as it requires an entire behavioural shift in every Hyuuga that ever lived."

"They deserve nothing less."

His younger cousin gave him an enigmatic smile before dipping his head, "Possibly."

* * *

**Konoha  
Central**

"Hey Naruto, do you have a moment?"

The blond stopped walking and turned to face the woman that called out to him.

"Kurenai-sensei?"

With a slight grin the genjutsu mistress waved her hands at him, "Stop it with the formalities. I was never your sensei in the first place."

Chuckling at that, Naruto nodded his head before giving her his foxy grin, "Yeah well, you were always kind to me. And I learnt a few things from you."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, like how not to get caught in a genjutsu," he answered happily.

Her eyes widened slightly as she heard is words, pressing her to question him, "How so?"

"Well in battle, I just kinda have my chakra spike on regular basis to stop it from happening."

Kurenai winced at that, "That shouldn't be possible. Even if it was, it should hurt. Like really hurt."

The jinchuuriki gave a careless shrug, "Eh, I've had worse. So, what can I do for you?"

"I was wondering if you could do me a favour?" she asked hopefully.

"Umm what do you need?"

"A babysitter."

"… Seriously?" he asked in confusion.

She had to smile at his dazed look before nodding genuinely, "Of course. I think you would be great with kids."

"Why don't you get some genin to do it?" he asked.

"You're a genin aren't you?" she pointed out.

Naruto blinked before shaking his head, "Ex-genin. Geez, how the hell did I spend five years as a shinobi and never get promoted?" he complained.

"Hey, don't feel too bad. You were probably the strongest genin in the Elemental Nations," she consoled.

Naruto found himself agree with that one, "I guess. But why don't you get them to do it?"

"I don't think that twelve year old kids are well qualified to look after a small child," Kurenai said dryly.

"And I am?" asked Naruto with uncertainty.

"I would trust you way more. And if you screw up…" she finished ominously.

Naruto gulped at the threat in her voice before chuckling nervously, "I won't, I won't! Wait! I didn't even promise to do it yet!"

"You- you're really going to say no to me?" she asked in a small voice, playing on his weakness like a flute.

"Gah! Stop that. Fine, fine, I'll do it. What time do you need me there?"

"Would seven o'clock be ok for you?" she hedged out with interest.

"Sure," Naruto nodded seriously.

"And I'll even leave some ramen out for you," she added as a sweetener.

"Awesome!"

* * *

**Konoha  
Yuuhi Kurenai's apartment**

"So, why did you choose him out of everyone?"

"Can you think of anyone else that would be more qualified?" challenged Kurenai.

"How about a professional babysitter?" Asuma responded dryly.

"Well, maybe," allowed the kunoichi, but she held her ground resolutely, "but Naruto has a way around kids that is just magical. And I can trust that our son will be absolutely safe with him around."

"Konoha isn't exactly a warzone ya know?" the jounin pointed out gently.

She shrugged before preparing the things that Naruto would need for the night, "Yes, but still. I know that he would rather die than let anything happen to Hiruzen, and that is good enough for me."

"Whatever makes you happy dear," he acquiesced with a long suffering sigh.

"Of course," she said condescendingly, patting his bearded cheek as she moved past him to reach some blankets.

"Are you planning something devious for our blond friend?" the wind user asked suspiciously.

"What makes you say that?" asked the crimson eyed woman.

"You have that look in your eye, that makes me think you have some sort of complicated and nefarious plan for the poor boy," he accused with a grin.

"Well, maybe I do. Maybe I don't. Not sure to be honest," she admitted with a closed smile.

Asuma chuckled at his partner's ways before checking his watch, "Right. Well, it's nearly time yes?"

* * *

Naruto whistled happily as he made his way down to the apartment that Kurenai and Asuma shared towards the west side of Konoha.

Soon enough he was at the front door, knocking politely as he had something to do on his Wednesday night. It had been many months since he had 'retired' from his shinobi career which left the jinchuuriki more spare time than he knew what to do with.

"Ah, you came!" Kurenai said happily, giving him a light hug as a greeting.

"I said I would didn't I? Geez, I go back on one promise and now everyone thinks I'm a liar," Naruto grumbled out in good humour.

"Well, I thought you would have more interesting things to do on your weeknight. Like go out partying, meeting a nice girl," Kurenai started fishing for information.

"Not really," answered the blond with a shake of his head.

"Ah Kurenai-sensei who is at the door-"

The blond cocked his head in surprise. But it was Hyuuga Hinata who received a jolt to her system as Naruto waved happily at her.

"Na-Naruto-kun?!" she squeaked out.

"Yo. How's it going Hina-chan?"

"I-I-I'm good! Real good!"

"Great, whatcha doing here?" asked Naruto with a confused look, scratching the back of his head with a sense of innocence that warmed Hinata's heart.

"Oh, I thought you might want some company for the night," Kurenai said disingenuously.

The Hyuuga started to breathe heavily at the thought of being alone with her idol, which made her sensei smile internally.

_Maybe this is the little boost that you need._

"Anyway, Asuma and I will be going out tonight so take care of Hiruzen for us. If there are any problems, send a kage bunshin out for us ok?" she asked gently.

"Not a problem," Naruto sang out with a smile.

"Time for uncle Naruto to find the little guy."

Hinata idly pushed her fingertips together as the jinchuuriki went on a search for Kurenai's son.

The red eyed kunoichi went over to her and whispered lowly, "Wouldn't this be a great time for the two of you to know each other a bit better."

The lavender eyed girl bit her lip before nodding hesitantly.

"Remember Hinata-chan, nothing ventured, nothing gained."

* * *

Naruto has Hiruzen cradled in his arms as the little boy stared into his face with delight, his fingers moving towards his cheeks with insistent grabs as Hinata giggled softly at the sight.

"Man, what does this always happen?" the jinchuuriki asked with amazement.

"It makes you cute," Hinata replied absentmindedly, before catching herself and started to blush heavily.

"Cute eh?" he teased the Hyuuga, blisffuly unaware of her mortification.

Remembering Kurenai's words, she lifted her eyes to his and gave a hesitant nod.

Naruto's mouth widened in a genuine smile, "Ya know, not many people have called me that before," he reflected sadly.

Seeing the opportunity in front of her, Hinata scooted over to Naruto and lightly placed her hand over his and squeezed gently.

He gave her a thankful smile before resting his head on her shoulders. The Hyuuga's heart was racing at such a pace that she prayed that Naruto couldn't hear the individual thumps.

"Thanks for that. So, dontcha have anything to do on a Wednesday night?"

She truthfully shook her head as she surrepitously rested her cheek against the side of his head.

"A-And you Naruto-kun?"

The jinchuuriki stayed silent for a while before sighing, "Nah. Me neither. Kami, look at us. We are not even twenty and we are acting like old people."

Hinata chuckled at that before she started to beam at Hiruzen, holding his hand while speaking carefully to Naruto.

"As long as I am with the right people, then I'm-I'm happy."

"You're really close with Kurenai aren't cha?"

The lavender eyed kunoichi nodded, thinking of the support and care she had given to her when she had needed it as an impressionable teen.

"Sh-she really helped me out when I needed it," Hinata said softly.

Naruto's eyes clouded a bit as he felt a bit jealous of the closeness that the teacher and student had with another.

I wish it was the same with me and Kakashi... or even Jiraiya.

He wasn't surprised then when Hinata asked him the same question, "H-How about you and Kakashi?"

Naruto couldn't stop a bitter laugh coming from his lips that confused the girl, "Meh. We have a ... complicated relationship."

"R-Really?!"

The blond leaned back and gazed at the ceiling, "Yeah, we were never really close. He was much better with Sasuke and Sakura than with me. I don't know if it was my fault or his, but it just never really happened," he said sadly.

Hinata's eyes hardened slightly at hearing the traitors name that had nearly killed Naruto back in the Valley, before shaking her head slightly to clear away her darker thoughts.

"Isn't he amazing?" asked Naruto out of the blue, cocking his head towards Hiruzen who had finally worn himself out and was dozing blissfully in his arms.

She had to smile at the cute sight, with Naruto cradling the child like it was the most precious thing in the world to him. Such paternal care seemed a bit out of character for the brash teen, but it appealed to her in a way that she couldn't express.

"I- I wonder if I can become a dad one day," Naruto mused quietly.

That was probably the wrong thing to saw in Hinata's earshot as her mind was consumed with lurid images that threatened to give her a nosebleed.

The jinchuuriki didn't notice how Hinata clenched her thighs slightly as he felt a sense of contentment and rightness that he never felt as strongly before. He knew that kids younger than him usually liked him, which he took for granted at times. But having Asuma's son under his care made him wonder if one day he could be a father as well.

The thought consumed him with happiness.

It also filled him with fear.

He had never really had a mature father figure in his life and grew chilled at the thought of screwing it all up. That he wouldn't be a good dad and have his children hating him.

_Man, this is way too deep for a Wednesday night._

"Did you hear that?" Naruto asked with a frown on his face.

"W-What is it?" Hinata asked in apprehension.

The blond closed his eyes and gently put Hiruzen into her arms, "I think, it's someone in trouble."

"Are you sure?" she asked a bit doubtfully.

"Yeah, my hearing is really good," he said absentmindedly as he tried to triangulate the approximate area where he heard the unmistakeable sound of a scream.

"Look, I got to go! Take care of Hiruzen ok?" he commanded forcefully.

Hinata could only nod her head as Naruto took charge of the situation, summoning five kage bunshin that took up positions in the apartment as the blond deftly exited out of the window.

* * *

Maehara Miyo knew it was probably a bad idea to be walking home at two in the morning, but late night cramming had left her unaware of the time. The eighteen year old hastily shoved her books into her satchel as she raced out of the library.

_Oh crap. I promised I would bake a cake for Makoto's birthday! Dammit, I won't have any time after work!_

She started to huff, hugging her bag to her chest as her lungs started to burn with the exertion.

_Man, I'm so unfit._

It didn't help when she tripped and fell gracelessly over the pavement, scratching herself in various places as she groaned.

"Aren't ya the clumsy one?"

Miyo's nose was assaulted with the stench of stale beer and other alcohol when she raised her head. She then screamed out when she felt her shins flare up in pain. Rolling over she gazed at her legs that were sliced in a near perfect line.

"Wh-what?" she asked in a daze.

"Yeah, steel ninja wire does that to skin," the nin commented idly as he ran his eyes over his flesh.

Miyo shivered at the avaricious look in his eyes before backing away nervously.

"Wh-what do you want?" she demanded.

The man chuckled with malicious intent before spinning a kunai in his hands, "I'm just looking to have some fun. Would you like to see how a shinobi does it in the sack?"

She shook her head vigiroulsy, her eyes widening as she tried to look for anything that could help her.

"Don't bother. We are in shinobi territory on a Wednesday night. Everyone is off to work or doing other things. Come on babe, once you try out some ninja cock, you can never go back to your civilian boys. We know how to last a long time," he leered out.

Miyo started to scream as he got closer to her, "AHH!!!"

"Oh yeah, scream for me bitch! Your gonna be doing a lot of that tonight!"

Naruto raced towards where he thought the scream was in a rapid dash, his speed a blur as he jumped off walls and roofs in an attempt to find the shortest distance.

He took a leaping vault and landed in a neat roll a block away from Miyo as he summoned clones to canvas the surrounds.

"Go!"

The real Naruto stalked the buildings with urgency in his steps. A few moments later he received the feebback from a bunshin that dispelled itself and found himself watching a girl being stripped of her clothing.

"What the hell are you doing?" he demanded.

"Fuck off kid! Don't get in the way of my fun," threatened the drunken shinobi, a feral look of hate in his eyes as he drew a kunai in a threatening manner.

Miyo crossed her arms to shield her naked breasts as she gave Naruto a desperate plea, "Oh please! Help me!"

The nin backhanded her viciously before spitting on her, "Shut the fuck up you whore. I'm gonna fuck you so hard and use your mouth for something useful!"

"HELP! ARRGH-"

The nin smiled sadistically before tracing his fingers across her flanks, "You want to scream bitch? Then I'll give you something to scream about when I stick my cock right up your –"

Naruto had seen enough to know what he had to do,"Back the hell away now you bastard!"

The blond's eyes hardened as he approached the nin, utterly fearless as he drew on his chakra just in case he needed it.

"Do you know who I am?" demanded the thug with an arrogant sneer, getting up and walking towards the teen with a swagger in his step once he saw that Naruto didn't have a hitai-ate.

"Do you know who I am?" Naruto asked back with amusement.

"I'm a chuunin kid, a damned military squad captain," he said proudly.

Naruto scoffed at that, "Does it look like I care? Who the hell are you to mess with that lady?"

"I'm a shinobi you do gooder punk! This is a fucking military village, civilians have no fucking right to be here. And if they do, then they serve us. You hear that bitch!"

Miyo was backing away as fast as she could, but was unable to get up as he legs were still cut up from the ninja wire. She felt a bit dizzy from the bloodloss and humiliation from a few moments before.

"In any way we want," he added lecherously as she fell down and flashed herself.

Naruto's stomach clenched at that and he spat out in disgust, "You're a fucking animal. Nothing more than a fucking animal."

"Hah! Who the hell is going to stop me? Might makes right. And I'm gonna fucking kill you and take her. And no one will ever know because I'm a shinobi. We don't leave any trace behind."

The jinchuuriki's eyes widened at that, his mind creating connections that had never occurred to him before.

"Time to die motherfucker!" yelled the nin, before lunging at Naruto.

There was a piercing scream from the distraught woman before Naruto blurred into action, his responses deeply ingrained after being a consummate fighter for the majority of his life.

He deftly avoided the kunai slash before he brought the flat of his hand against the ninja's windpipe, the sudden strike cutting off his air supply. Not content with that the blond kicked out at his knee, breaking the joint before smashing his face in with his elbow.

The nin groaned and looked up in surprise, blinking stupidly as he was defeated by a civilian.

"I'm not done with you yet," promised Naruto.

The fallen man decided that it was probably better to make a retreat and made the hand seals for the _Shunshin no jutsu_, training taking over.

Naruto anticipated this and threw two kunai smoothly, impaling the knives into the crazed nin's hands, interrupting the seal sequence and making him scream out in agony.

The jinchuuriki then calmly walked over before curb stomping the groaning shinobi into unconsciousness.

"What the hell do I do with you now?"

* * *

**Konoha  
Hokage's Office **

"How the hell does this shit happen?" Naruto asked in a disturbed tone.

Tsunade sighed before shaking her head, "It's quite easy. In fact, it was way too easy."

"What do you mean?"

"Think about it. We have our own super powered bunch of men and women amongst normal people. What is to stop them committing crimes against the civilians?"

"Decency!" spat out Naruto heatedly.

The Hokage gave out a small smile before sighing, "Not everyone is a good human being. Not even in Konoha."

"This isn't right. I mean, what the hell do the MP's do in the first place?" he demanded.

"They keep the peace as best as they can. I mean, things have been going downhill thanks to the Uchiha massacre."

"Wha?"

Tsunade took a deep sip of her sake before she stood up and offered Naruto a saucer, "They at least had a code of honour that they took seriously. It is one of the reasons why the civilians loved them so much. It wasn't because they had a doujutsu. It was because they were principled and defended their rights without bias or prejudice. A criminal was a criminal. A shinobi criminal was the worst of them all, because they used powers for evil instead of good."

Naruto had never really thought of it before.

Tsunade also had to add her opinion that was coloured by generation of infighting between the Senju and Uchiha clans, "Of course it was all motivated by a sense of superiority that the Uchiha had over everyone else. It made them lord it over the other shinobi. It was probably thanks to their doujutsu as well."

"What do you mean?" asked Naruto curiously.

"Having all that chakra being focused through your eyes probably affects the electrical signals that are passed through the brain. It was a theory that me and Shizune had a while back, but it wasn't really testable unless we experiment on some corpses," Tsunade lectured out.

Naruto shivered a bit at that, "Wait, does that explain Kakashi?"

"Maybe," allowed Tsunade as she thought of the odd decisions the jounin had made over the years, "his body isn't made to handle the Sharingan. So maybe... we have to test this a bit further. Maybe more if he kicks the bucket."

The blond nodded uneasily over Kakashi's autopsy.

"Yeah, exactly. But regardless of the fact that they were sane or not, at least they were competent. Until you came along," she added with a smile.

"Hey, I was just a kid back then!" defended Naruto sullenly.

"I've also read how you pranked them a lot back when you were younger," Tsunade remembered with a grin.

Naruto chuckled at all the paint he had managed to use in his practical jokes, "Yeah, they must have hated me. How did I get away with it?"

"You were lucky that you were just a kid back then. They didn't take any crap from anyone. So when a kid did it, it threw them out of character. It's a shame that we don't have anyone else to replace them," she lamented sadly.

"Who are the current MP's now?" asked the blond.

"Mostly ex-shinobi and members of the Inuzuka clan. But the thing is that they are not as effective or respected as the Uchiha's. Most of them are too sympathetic to actually do anything meaningful to them if they are caught."

Tsunade's eyes grew haunted as she looked at the village from her office window, "The thing is that most shinobi are too good and careful to be caught. There is this huge, probably massive, amount of crime going on that I don't know about. That no one knows about. When you can use _shunshin_ to make escapes, and genjutsu to affect memories, no civilian is really safe here in Konoha."

"I mean, we all know Jiraiya is an open pervert and lecherous old man that spies on women while they are bathing in a pathetic attempt to sustain an erection –" she started to rant with vehement disgust.

Naruto was quite used to, and amused by her tirades against the Toad Sage that he just kept an indulgent smile as she continued to vent.

"But at least he is open about it. Most ninja can steal, rape and do anything to the civilians as long as it isn't open or permanent."

Naruto's heart clenched a bit.

"Ayame…" he whispered out in horror.

Tsunade nodded grimly, "It's a possibility. I mean, the only thing stopping them is a sense of honour and conscience. The MP's can't be everywhere at once."

"Those things don't quite belong to shinobi," Naruto said sadly.

The Hokage placed her hands over Naruto's shoulders, "Yeah. Konoha has a reputation of having the most disciplined and respected shinobi in the world. It is why business men and women trust us with confidential information, why people travel massive distances to retain our services. But we aren't saints."

"They should be," Naruto said solidly.

Tsunade rested her chin on top of Naruto's head, "But the truth of it is that they aren't. Give them a few drinks after a hard mission, what are they going to do? Have some fun and relax."

"But most of them are adrenaline junkies whose concept of fun can hurt people at times. Hell, you used to be one of them."

"I never hurt other people when I wanted to have fun," defended Naruto.

"That may be, but the problem is even worse when most people are just too afraid to testify against shinobi in court. Or even to me or the Council."

"What?!" spluttered out Naruto in anger.

"They think that their buddies would target them afterwards, or do other things against them. Some of them rather forget about it than actually press charges. And the new MP service would rather not get involved in that kinda thing."

"This, what, what the hell!?" spluttered out Naruto in outrage.

"Saddening isn't it?" Tsunade sad with a look of resignation on her face.

"How, how can you be ok with this?" he demanded.

Tsunade wrapped her arms around him before shaking her head, "I'm not. But there isn't that much I can do about it. Most shinobi are registered anyway, but henge makes that pretty useless at times. The only real way is to send them to Ibiki and Anko twice a year to 'confess' their sins. And there would be a civil war before that could ever happen."

Naruto just looked dumbfounded, a sense of righteous indignation bringing with the intensity of a thousand suns. His eyes started to shine with a newfound purpose that excited and scared the Hokage all at once.

"I – I think I know what I want to do now," he said grimly.

"Become an ANBU under my command?" she asked hopefully.

"Maybe later," he said absentmindedly before he started to walk out of her office.

* * *

**Konoha  
Military Police Central Precinct**

"So, why do you want to be an MP?"

Naruto sat down on the uncomfortable chair, feeling a bit apprehensive in the job interview as an inscrutable Inuzuka Tsume started to question him.

"I want to help people," he said simply.

The woman snorted a bit before flipping over his file, which the Hokage had kindly given to her. She had also outright ordered her to accept Naruto into the ranks or face her wrath. Because she wasn't a stupid woman she said yes.

At first she was a bit offended that she had a person shoved down her throat into the understaffed MP force, but when she had read his record her mind quickly turned around.

His mission statistics were amazing. His skill set was actually well suited towards the MP profession and he had the ability to use kage bunshin no jutsu in ways that would make up for their comparative lack of numbers.

The fact that he wanted to join for genuine reasons was just icing on the cake.

But that didn't mean that she would make it easy for him. Tsume was sure that Naruto didn't know that Tsunade had guaranteed a spot for him already, so she was intended to make him sweat it out for a bit.

She remembered the impetuous kid that had managed to beat her son over four years ago. She didn't really take any notice of him before the final round of the Chuunin exams. Even then he was an excitable boy with a lucky win under his belt before all hell broke loose.

But this Uzumaki Naruto in front of her was a different beast to the callow boy of thirteen summers. He had matured into young adult, his arrogance tempered into confidence with a strong sense of compassion lying underneath his eyes.

And those whisker marks were still there that always managed to attract her eyes.

_I wonder if you are related to us Naruto-kun? Kami knows there are enough orphans around the place and they do look like clan markings…_

"Why though? Why did you quit being a shinobi?"

Naruto took a deep breath before responding, a bit sick of the fact that he had to explain it all over again to a stranger, "I don't believe that killing for money or politics is what I want to do."

"Well, we generally use non lethal techniques as a cop, but you might be required in the line of duty. Are you fine with that?"

Naruto faced her steadily, "If they are criminals who have gone too far?"

She didn't say anything to that question.

"Then yes. I can do it. I'll do it gladly."

The blond spoke with an intensity that sent shivers down her spine, Tsume wondered if Naruto was the jolt that the MP's needed to regain their pride and efficacy again.

* * *

"Most crimes happen at night. Especially ones committed by shinobi. But we still have a presence that we need to keep up during the day. There are still desperate people out there without ninja skills."

"Naruto, as the new guy you get the dirtiest and most thankless tasks that we can think of."

"Nani?!" screamed out the blond in horror.

Hana nodded with a smile, "It's traditional that we give the new person the hardest time possible. It's only then that we can see what you are really made of before we can give you any respect."

"Come on, can't I like just fight you all instead?" he asked desperately.

Hana shook her head, "Oh no, that shows us nothing more than your fighting ability. We are not in the shinobi forces anymore son."

"You're all just scared that I can kick your asses from here to Suna," accused Naruto.

"Whatever you pup, you're just a genin."

The jinchuuriki gave them a mysterious smile before leaning back against a wall, "Then why are you scared?"

Tsume was amused by the brash confidence that Naruto possessed, well aware that he was more than a match everyone in the room, even if some of the older policemen were a bit sceptical of what he could do.

"I don't want to bruise your delicate ego kid."

The Inuzuka matriarch had enough of the banter and shook her head in annoyance, "Ok enough. Hana, partner up with Naruto and show him the ropes."

Hana nodded obediently before grabbing the blond's arm and pulled him outside of the precinct.

* * *

"So, why did you join up?"

Naruto just shook his head as he started his patrol, his blue eyes roving left and right as he took in the surroundings with a sense of diligence that Hana approved of.

"I needed the money," he responded dryly.

She rolled her eyes at that answer before lighting swatting him over the head.

"Dammit! What is it with girls and hitting me on the back of my head?" he whined out.

"It's the ingrained female reaction when a male does something stupid. I figured that you would be used to it," she said dryly.

"Meh, I became a cop so I could do the right thing and protect those who couldn't protect themselves. Especially from the shinobi who should know better."

"Naruto, to be fair, most shinobi aren't closet criminals," Hana pointed out with some disapproval.

The blond nodded his head at that, "Yeah, I know. My best friends are all nin. But that doesn't mean that there are a few that are messed up in the head and can't be trusted. I've met some screwed up enemy shinobi when I was a genin, and I'm sure that Konoha has a few of them as well."

"We don't live in a perfect world," observed the Inuzuka cynically.

"That is why there are people like us to help make things better," Naruto said simply.

"You're an interesting guy you know that. This isn't just a job to you is it?"

He flashed her a foxy grin before shaking his head solemnly, "This is important to me."

"More than being a shinobi?" she pressed intently.

"I hope so," responded the blond seriously.

"Well, if you are so interested," Hana drawled out, "then I guess I have to show you how things are done."

Naruto nodded happily as he turned eagerly to face her.

"Time for policing for idiots," she declared with a grin.

"Why does everyone think I'm an idiot?" he complained with a pout.

* * *

_I had chosen something that should have made people's life better. I would do something useful for once. To protect the village that I still had feelings for._

_The sun might shine on Konoha, but it had a heart of darkness that needed to be cleaned up. _

_I thought I was the person to do it._

_There are times when I wonder if Tsunade conned me into this by acting so indifferent to it, to make me angry enough to step into the breach._

_It seems like the tricky and elaborate plan that she would do, if only to spite me for sticking her with the Hokage position. _

_Then again, if she knew that it would turn me into what I am today, I think she would have rather flashed me to get my mind from ever going up with the MPs in the first place._

_Urgh._

_I really shouldn't be thinking of them. No matter how fine they are, or how they would feel in my hands -_

_Gah._

_Who am I kidding, I already know. That's part of the damned problem._

* * *


	3. Part III

**Uzumaki Naruto**

Dialogue normal/external speech  
_Dialogue_ inner thoughts  
_**Dialogue**_ Kyuubi speaking aloud  
Dialogue Kyuubi thinking/musing

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any other franchise

* * *

**  
Part III**

_They say that being a shinobi is a young mans game._

_The same goes for the MP's really. When you are young and at your best, there is nothing that you can't do. Like stupidly long hours, fancy ninjutsu and kicking ass like it's going out of fashion._

_Yeah, that was me._

_But I had to realise that once it was over, then what the hell was left for those guys and girls?_

_Turning to crime was an easy option, one that I kinda understood at times. It was great when life was black and white, but being part of all this gray was annoying._

_Things were never simple anymore._

_There was always a reason, a motivation or something like that._

_It made me think before I acted, it made me feel for them._

_But I never, ever forgot that they made their lives better at the expense of others. Of the innocent who could not protect themselves from those who should have known better. From those who had power over and above that of a normal person._

_That is why I do what I do._

_That is why I have lost everything as well._

* * *

**Konoha  
Hokage's Office **

"Dammit Baa-chan, don't you read the reports that I give you?" Naruto asked in outrage.

"They go into that pile," she responded absentmindedly, pointing to a stack of work on the floor that reached the height of her desk.

"Wait, isn't that the pile of stuff you ignore and use to distract Shizune when she thinks that you have no work to do?" he asked suspiciously.

"Yep," she agreed with a grin.

"Shishou!" exclaimed out Shizune in disapproval.

"Oh please, I have done worse things than that!" she scoffed out.

"You shouldn't be neglecting your work like that," she scolded in a reproving manner.

"Yeah!" added Naruto with a shout, "I had to write the bloody things so you have to read them!"

Tsunade blinked at that, "Wait, you wrote that report?"

Naruto crossed his arms before pouting slightly, "Yeah, they stuck me behind a desk and made me do all this work because Tsume thinks you just ignore her every time she gives you a briefing."

"Smart, I knew I put that woman in charge for a reason," remarked the Godaime with self congratulation.

"Dammit! Is that why she made me the liaison officer? What the hell is liaison anyway?"

"It's just a contact between the Military Police and the Hokage," started off Shizune in a lecturing voice, "so that any problems or issues of funding and jurisdiction can be resolved."

The Hokage looked like she had learnt something by that and blinked, "Ah, interesting. While you're here, why don't you just tell me what you wrote?"

The blond shook his head stubbornly, "Read my report you lazy woman!"

"But, you're right here and you wrote the bloody thing!" she retorted.

"It's not like I can remember it all," he responded stubbornly.

"How about you read it to me?" she bargained desperately.

"Hmmm, fine," conceded Naruto, "but only if I have a drink in my hand while doing it-"

In a flash Tsunade grabbed Naruto by the shoulder and rushed him out of her office.

"Shishou! Where are you going?" shouted out Shizune in dismay.

"Bar hopping! Naruto needs a drink so we can all do our jobs. Let the treasury know that we will be hitting up a tab!"

"Shishou! Show some sense of fiscal responsibility!"

* * *

**Konoha  
Chrysanthemum Bar **

"Err, are you sure this is legal?"

The two blondes had managed to snag a seat at the Chrysanthemum Bar, Konoha's latest club that was a frequent haunt for the shinobi that served it's walls. No one had dared stop her as she took up a balcony seat overlooking the main dance area with Naruto, putting down her card for the bottle service.

"Pfft, I'm the Hokage Naruto. Who is going to deny me service?" replied Tsunade sarcastically.

"Shizune is not going to be happy," muttered the blond while shaking his head.

"Aww, you're all concerned about what my student thinks of you?" she teased with a grin.

Naruto waived away her insinuations with a flick of his hand, "Somebody has to stand up to your 'frivolous excesses'."

"Nani?!"

"Hey, they were her words not mine!" Naruto said out hastily.

"Feh. This is the only part of my job that I look forward to," she admitted with a rueful grin.

"Getting drunk with an ex-genin?" he asked dubiously.

"No, it's outlasting a younger man in an endurance experiment," she shot back. She held her hands up for two shots of liquor that arrived onto their table.

"Start reading to me," she demanded while shooting down the small glass, feeling the familiar warm sensation work its way through her body. Welcoming the buzz she looked at Naruto fondly as he tried to decipher his written report.

"I swear this made sense when I wrote it. Shit, did I send you the draft or something?" he muttered in confusion.

"Come on brat, can't you read or something?" she complained with a pout.

"Hey! Just give me a second..."

It soon became obvious that Naruto didn't know what was going on so he threw it away in disgust, "Ok, anyway cutting a long story short, the MP service sucks."

"I know," agreed the Hokage amiably.

"You do?" Naruto asked suspiciously.

"Yeah, why do you think I conned you into it?" she asked victoriously.

"How did you con me into this? Did you really set up that whole Miyo thing?" the blond asked with suspicion and discomfort.

"Hell no, what kind of person do you take me for?" asked Tsunade in outrage.

"A sneaky one?" Naruto hazarded.

The Godaime smirked and grazed her lips over his cheeks, her tongue barely touching his whisker marks before speaking throatily, "And don't you ever forget it."

The blond got flustered and turned to face her hazel eyes, surprised by the depth of warmth within them, "Stop being such a tease dammit!"

Tsunade laughed before she started to stretch, thrusting her breasts out as she eased her shoulder muscles, "I'm having way too much fun to ever stop Naruto-kun."

The teen had to catch himself from staring too intently on the blonde's chest before hastily grabbing his glass and gulping it in one go.

"That reminds me, when I retire, who the hell do I give the damned hat and cloak to then?" she asked quizzically.

"Beats me, Kakashi?"

Tsunade started to cough violently at the thought, "Gaaa, that's a horrible idea!"

"He's not that bad," Naruto started indecisively.

"He would be a terrible leader," the blonde stated flatly, "with a bad record of poor decisions."

The jinchuuriki felt compelled to defend his former sensei, "Oh come on, you weren't any better when you first started."

Tsunade blushed a bit but preferred to ignore that point, "Maybe, but at least I don't have a foreign chakra using doujutsu implanted into me while in the field that degrades sanity!"

Naruto groaned while dropping his head to the table, "Can't you let this whole Senju and Uchiha thing go?"

The busty kunoichi gave an evil smirk before nodding magnanimously, "Sure I can, considering that we won."

"How the hell did you win?" asked Naruto suspiciously.

"We outlasted them," she said proudly.

The MP blinked owlishly before backing away slowly.

"What?"

"Bad shit happens when you win," Naruto said with a hint of fear.

"Oh please, I won ages ago. What's the worst that can happen now?" rationalised the Hokage.

"Stop tempting fate dammit!" pleaded Naruto, looking around him in abject fear.

* * *

"So... how many bottles was that again?"

The Godaime looked at the empty glass containers around her as she ticked them off with her fingers, "I think that was like twelve, if they didn't take any away from the table."

The jinchuuriki blinked and started to yawn.

"What's the matter, are you done already?" Tsunade egged on gamely.

"Hah! Yeah right, I've still ready to go if you are!"

Tsunade raised her hands and ordered some more rice wine as Naruto scribbled something on his report as he tried to translate it to something he could read.

Considering that he wrote it in the first place, he was taking a long time doing so.

The blond gave up before sighing, "Ok, we really need some funding. Maybe even for a typewriter or something."

The Hokage pursed her lips before smiling happily, "All this can be fixed if you put in a requisition form. It's a Form Thirty Seven, I think."

"Ah come on Tsunade, I know you don't really look at those forms," complained Naruto.

"I sure don't," she agreed with a smile, "Why the hell do you need a typewriter for in the first place?"

The blond thrust his report in her face.

"Because I spent most of my childhood avoiding stuff like penmanship!"

The well educated Senju had to roll her eyes at the pathetic chicken scratches that was Naruto's handwriting.

"Kami, what the hell did you do to the paper? It's like you just slopped ink on it!" she accused with a grin.

"This is why we need a typewriter!" insisted Naruto, "and while we are there, we also need more money for the precincts and jails!"

Tsunade sighed before gesturing for more sake from the waitress, "Sure, in an ideal world I would give you all of that. But in an ideal world crime wouldn't even exist."

"Stop skating around the issue and give me the funding dammit!"

She shook her head and started jabbing her finger into the teen's forehead, "I would if the MP was a value adding service to Konoha!"

"Value adding? How can you put a price on law and order?" Naruto asked with genuine confusion.

"Easy! Your wages, your salary, the property damage that happens when you go on a high speed rooftop chase!" she listed categorically.

Naruto laughed nervously at the last one, "What do you want me to do, just let him go?"

"Think smarter!" she growled out, her hands sneaking towards his saucer before she drained half of it in one fluid motion.

"Hey! I was saving that up!" Naruto screamed in outrage.

"Well the only way you're getting it is if you take it straight from my mouth," she challenged with a shit eating grin, putting the rest of the sake into her mouth as she stared him down.

After having more than the legal alcohol limit in his system Naruto wasn't in a mood to back away. His grin turned predatory as he slowly approached a disbelieving Tsunade.

"Ya think I'm gutless do you?" he asked.

Her smirk told him that she thought he was a cowardly pussy.

"Fine then, I'll show you!"

With that he turned his head slightly and pressed his lips to her. The Senju's eyes widened in shock as Naruto snaked his tongue towards her mouth and gently pried it open with the finesse of a locksmith. Tsunade gave into his insistent overtures and let the sake in her mouth flow into his before aggressively sticking her tongue into his mouth, questing as the alcohol disappeared and she stopped pretending that she was playing a game.

Her hand shot out and grasped the back of his head, holding it in place as she explored every crevice of his mouth as Naruto tried just as hard to do the same to her. Eventually she opened her eyes and gazed into the blond's cerulean orbs with a wanton look of desire upon her face.

The MP's face was bright red as he was awed by the sheer need in the Hokage's eyes and how amazing the last few moments were. His breathing was laboured and he could feel an intense pressure between his legs as his mind was still struggling with the events beforehand. He idly noticed a strand of saliva still connecting them as the blonde extended her wet tongue and lapped it up, ending with a peck on his nose that sent even more shivers down his spine.

"Oh kami," groaned out Naruto, blinking rapidly as thought became difficult.

"Felt good didn't it?" she asked smugly, standing up and plopping herself so that she was right next to him. She placed her hand on his thigh and gently squeezed it.

Naruto started to get apprehensive and wanted to get up, "I think we had a bit too much to drink and-"

"It's time for us to find a bed!" she finished decisively. She stood up and started to drag Naruto to her apartment, ignoring his half hearted efforts to get away.

* * *

Naruto groaned and opened his eyes slowly.

_Urgh. That's not my ceiling._

His senses were still reeling from something and he turned over, desperate to get a few more hours of sleep before he found himself unable to move.

_What the?_

It was only then that he felt a pair of arms that were snaked around his waist that had no intention of budging. He looked down to find Tsunade still asleep, looking peaceful with a satisfied smile on her face. The pale moonlight fell upon her face, highlighting the fine complexion that she had, her face only marred by the faux gem that was centered upon her forehead. Her blond bangs cupped her cheeks with an ethereal softness that made Naruto want to touch it himself.

He then realised that he actually wasn't dreaming.

_Oh kami. Don't tell me that we –_

He could feel a pleasant ache between his legs, and judging from the sticky mess that was between them they had gotten up to something that was definitely not rated for children.

_Oh fuck. Score! I mean, oh shit!_

He raised his head and saw that his clothes were strewn all over the floor, along with Tsunade's. He blinked a bit, trying to remember what had happened during the last few hours.

_Urgh. I can remember lots of hot, sweaty activity. Fuck, what do I do now?_

He decided that making a strategic retreat was probably the best option then.

_Man, I don't want her waking up and getting pissed over this. If Ero-Sennin managed to do this he would be a dead man._

_Heh._

_Oh man, I can't believe I banged Tsunade._

_Jiraiya would love me, if not kill me as well._

_This is too fucked up._

Naruto made a gesture to move before the Hokage's arms tightened around his, stopping his movements as he felt her warm breath tickle his ear.

"Were you trying to run?" she asked dangerously.

The blond chuckled nervously as he shook his head, "No?"

"What's the matter? Are – are you ashamed of what we did?" she asked in a small voice.

"No! This was probably the best thing that could have happened to me! And the worst!"

"What do you mean?" she asked with a confused tone.

Naruto turned to face her, a look of absolute fear on his face that took the anger from her sails, "You-you are like the closest person to me," he whispered out.

His eyes grew haunted as he drew his knees to his chest, "I-I'd be lost without you. And if things became awkward because we fucked, or if things were never the same again..."

His blue eyes misted over as he tried to contain his tears, "I-I don't know what the hell I'd do."

Touched by his words Tsunade gently drew the blond to her breasts, cuddling him tightly as she started to whisper to him, "You silly boy. We are just two people showing how much we care for each other."

"I mean as shinobi or even MPs we do things that hurt other people, but this is the chance for us to give some pleasure with what we have," she purred out, tightening her grip around the blond as he fell to her words.

"How can something that feels so good be bad? Things will change slightly between us, but we can only get closer because of this."

The jinchuuriki felt himself nodding at her words, grasping on to them as he was enchanted by the sincerity that lay within them.

"I care for you a lot," she admitted.

"So all those times you were teasing me ..."

She grinned naughtily before resting her forehead against his, "I wasn't teasing. You had no idea how wet you made me by being so oblivious to it."

Naruto blushed at that, feeling his body react to her proximity with a gulp, "I, I had dreams about you as well," he admitted.

"You better have!" she growled out playfully.

"You think I lean over all those times because I have to?" she added with a smirk.

The teen blinked before smiling with amusement, "Devious. So devious."

She smirked before cupping his cock in her hands, making him gasp.

"I'll show you devious."

* * *

"So Naruto, was I your first?"

The boy stiffened at that, unwilling to answer as he was spooning with the blonde as he played with her hair idly. The two of them were exhausted after spending hours and hours

"... No," he answered finally.

"Who was it then, Sakura or Hinata?"

He laughed at that, a bitterness within him that could not be contained.

"I never had a chance with Sakura-chan. Never had. Never will."

Tsunade turned over to face him, her hands roaming around his body as if she couldn't get enough of his firm flesh.

"Then why?"

Naruto looked a bit uneasy before he answered, "I think it was a ... competition between me and Sasuke."

"Oh?"

The jinchuuriki nodded before he started to return the favour, his hands falling on her ass as he slowly massaged each globe of flesh with his fingers.

"It was like that bastard had everything I wanted. Respect, friends, skill. If, if I could get Sakura it would mean that I would be more like him. Does that even make sense?"

"A bit," allowed the blonde, looking at the love marks that she had left on his neck disappear with a pout.

"Damned Kyuubi. Now the rest of the world can't know that I marked you," she pouted.

Naruto chuckled at that before placing his lips towards her neck, "How about I do the same?"

She groaned happily as he started to suck on her flesh, rolling it over with his tongue and fighting the wave of exhaustion that clung onto him.

_Shit, why am I so tired? I've done harder things than this, I think._

The Hokage leaned back and dragged Naruto on top of her, enjoying his weight pushing on her as her nipples sought to poke holes though his chest.

"This feels soooo good," she purred out.

"But I really want to know. Who was your first?"

The question seemed to shatter Naruto's mood as he stopped kissing her and moved back to her side, eyes growing slightly haunted as he refused to answer.

"It was Ozawa wasn't it?" she answered in realisation.

Naruto gave the briefest of nods to answer her question.

* * *

**Konoha  
Military Police Precinct**

"So what is the role of the MP?"

Naruto raised his hand eagerly, "Oh I know this one!"

Hana rubbed her temples as she felt an incoming headache courtesy of the enthusiastic blond that happened to be her partner.

Tsume made a big show of looking around the recruits before she pointed indulgently at Naruto, "Yes?"

"To uphold law and order for the good of Konoha."

She nodded approvingly, "And how do we do that exactly?"

Naruto blinked at that before answering hesitantly, "By arresting people that commit crimes?"

"Partially right. The main role of the MP's is to act as a deterrent against anyone that threatens the internal security of the village. That usually means that we keep law and order from the civilians and shinobi, but once in a while we get enemy nins operating within Konoha. That makes the situation a bit funny."

"What happens then?" asked Naruto.

"We have joint jurisdiction with the ANBU. We are generally not well equipped to flush out cells operating within Konoha so we let the Hokage's own take care of that little problem."

"Right."

Seeing that he and the rest of the class understood Tsume went on with her lesson, "Now we have to move into some of the basics of law enforcement. Given your special circumstances, I will assign Hana as your private tutor."

The Inuzuka grinned widely that made Naruto gulp a bit.

Tsume laughed at the blond's discomfort, "Don't worry, my daughter doesn't leave any permanent marks when she bites."

"Nani?!"

* * *

"So, show me how you fight."

Naruto just got into a loose stance that bothered Hana as she turned her eye to his sloppy form.

_Geez, how the hell has he survived this long without learning how to stand properly?_

"What?" Naruto asked defensively as he saw her disapproval on her face.

"Was Kakashi really your sensei?" Hana asked dubiously.

"He sure was," agreed the teen, "but that doesn't mean that he really taught me anything. What's wrong?"

She struggled to find a place to start, "It's just that everything is all so wrong. You've had shinobi training but it doesn't really show. It looks you're more of a brawler than anything else."

Naruto's eyes shifted left and right as he laughed nervously, "Maybe?"

Hana sighed as she figured that she had a lot of work cut out for her.

"You really shouldn't look down at me," Naruto said seriously.

As she looked into his ice blue eyes she had to gulp slightly.

_Crap, did he just use killing intent on me?_

"Did you just use killing intent on me?!" she demanded.

The blond blinked before shaking his head, "Nope."

"Odd," muttered the girl before adopting her clan stance and gave Naruto a wide smirk.

"Get ready to cry little boy," she taunted.

"Bring it!"

* * *

"Oww."

"I told you not to look down at me," Naruto said with satisfaction.

Hana just groaned as she tried to replay the last few moments back in her mind.

"How the hell did you do that?"

"Kick your ass you mean?" Naruto gloated.

She growled at that before nodding reluctantly, "How the hell did you move like that?"

The jinchuuriki just shrugged before offering his hand to her, pulling her to her feet as they walked to the nearby bench.

"I have been fighting for most of my life, so I know how to do it. I mean, I might not have a style but most people call me 'unpredictable'," he said with a shrug.

She laughed at that before she winced, "You don't hold your punches either. Not even for a girl," she pouted.

Naruto shrugged at that, "What, can't handle the heat?"

"Bah," scoffed Hana, waving off his words with her hands, "I've had worse fighting my brother."

"Oh really?" asked Naruto innocently.

"Yep," she lied artlessly.

"How about a rematch then?" suggested the blond slyly.

Hana laughed nervously before shaking her head, "Not now. And if so I get to use my partner."

The boy hummed at that, "Yeah sure, that should be fun. I haven't had a decent spar for a long time."

Hana nodded wryly before opening a bottle of water and started sipping it, "But seriously, how did you remain a genin for so long? You clearly have chuunin level skills at least."

Naruto got uncomfortable and coughed lightly, "Things have always popped up. And Tsunade wasn't in a real hurry to promote me anyway."

The Inuzuka nodded at that, "I guess it makes people underestimate you."

"Like you?" he asked pointedly.

She winced at that but nodded amiably, "Yep, I guess so."

"So, do I pass?"

Hana pretended to think before smiling widely, "Sure, that part is ok. It's time for the next lesson."

* * *

"Ever use one of these things before?"

Hana tossed a tonfa to Naruto who caught it casually.

"Nah, I'm not into weapons," he admitted candidly.

"Not even kunai or shuriken?" she asked dubiously.

Naruto shook his head, "Not really. I'm more of a hand to hand kinda guy."

"That's not very practical for a ninja," she observed.

The jinchuuriki huffed at that before he channelled chakra into his hands and formed  
a perfect Rasengan.

"This is more than enough," Naruto said smugly.

Hana's eyes widened in disbelief as she saw what was in his hands.

"Th-that's the Rasengan!" she blurted out in awe.

"Duh," chided Naruto with a small amount of pride in his voice.

"Crap, you're full of surprises aren't ya?"

"I do my best," he said with false modesty.

"Ok, so you don't really need this then. But doesn't that jutsu kinda like, kill people in one shot?"

"I wish," snorted the blond. He stopped channelling and let the chakra orb dissipate into nothing, "It does massive internal damage to most people. But most nins aren't idiots that are willing to let me hit them with this. But I can tone it down to make it hurt real bad."

"Ah, I see. Well, it seems like that's another thing that I don't need to teach you."

"I'm such a good student aren't I?" he asked facetiously.

She shook her head before affecting a condescending air, "It's more like I'm an awesome teacher."

"Anyway, we try to arrest people and then indict them if it is necessary. Killing people and using lethal force is not our first option in our line unless it is to save your life or another. Do you understand?"

Naruto nodded seriously, "Yep. It's what I usually do anyway."

"But because we have nins that go bad, they are a bitch to keep down without like killing them. That is why we have these."

She tossed a satchel to the boy who caught it in one hand. He opened it up to find strips of paper with sealing script all over it.

"What's this?"

"Your next best friend. Those are temporary seals that close up the chakra pathways of any person for up to a day. It prevents Shunshin escapes and crap like that."

"Ah, nice. We used to use this sometimes in the ANBU," Naruto revealed carelessly.

"Wait, you were in the ANBU?" she asked suspiciously.

Naruto blinked before shaking his head evasively, "No."

"But you just said-"

"I was never an operator," he said flatly.

Thinking that this was something way beyond her pay grade, Hana let the issue lie before handing out the rest of Naruto's kit to him.

* * *

"Crime never sleeps."

Tsume adopting a lecturing tone as the latest recruits sat at attention, some of them scribbling into notebooks as she gave them a crash course in policing before letting them wet their feet in Konoha's streets.

"But our resources are finite, we cannot be everywhere at once."

"I can."

Everyone looked at Naruto in disbelief.

"Geez, you never stop making outrageous claims that your body can't cash do you?" Hana asked with a snort.

Tsume nodded at that, "First is that you beat Gaara during the Chuunin Exams back then, then it you that single handedly retrieved Tsunade and fought off the Snake Sannin, then it's you being best friends with Gaara who is now the Kazekage..."

The jinchuuriki crossed his arms before looking offended, "What? I can do anything that I have said. Believe it!"

Tsume was amused and also annoyed by Naruto's outbursts so she decided to corner him on this one, "How can you be everywhere at once?"

"I'm just awesome like that."

The entire class looked at him like he was crazy.

He just grinned at them before forming a cross shaped seal with his hands.

_Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu._

There was a brief flash of smoke before the entire class was surrounded by blue eyed blond's with shit eating grins on their faces.

Hana and Tsume's jaws just dropped as they saw the most profligate waste of chakra in their lives being performed so casually and negligently that they had to blink several times.

"Holy shit, did you just summon three hundred shadow clones?" asked Hana in awe.

"Yep," Naruto said proudly.

Tsume just looked at them with a hunger in her eyes that frightened most people in the room.

_Naruto-kun, you have like single handedly rewrote our standard operating procedure._

_Crap, why the hell did Tsunade let you go?_

_Fuck it, it's her loss._

"Class dismissed, Naruto come with me!" she demanded.

* * *

"How many times can you use that jutsu?"

The boy scratches his head before shrugging, "I think I can use like three hundred before I have to wait like two to three hours."

"But how strong are they? The technique means that all your chakra is dispersed amongst them. Wouldn't they be like pathetically weak?"

Naruto stood up defensively, "Guys, beat up Hana!"

"Yes boss!"

"Hey wait!" cried out Hana in surprise.

Without warning three clones dashed towards the Inuzuka, weaving amongst themselves as Hana tried to fight them off.

Naruto and Tsume just watched while Naruto gave a running commentary. The younger Inuzuka found out that the blond's clones were more formidable than she thought, able to put her on the defensive even if they were only a fraction of Naruto's strength.

Tsume whistled at the scene, "Geez, you've had experience ne?"

The teen grinned wryly at that, "You could say that."

Hana eventually dispersed the clones, breathing heavily in a way that distracted Naruto as she glared at him.

"What kind of chakra monster are you?!" she asked with a huff.

He shrugged his shoulders at that "Yeah, I have a lot of chakra. But these things are more useful than just being a 'force multiplier'."

The two females gazed at him with interest, "What do you mean?"

"The clones can learn. I remember the things that they do or see."

Tsume's eyes widened at that, "Does that mean that if I send one out on patrol and they encounter a problem, they can tell you about it instantly?"

The jinchuuriki stroked his chin before answering, "Well yeah, I haven't ever really tested the range of it before. But I guess we can do that."

"Does that mean that we can use them for night patrol and have a quick reaction force on standby?" she pressed.

The blond nodded his head in agreement, "Pretty much. They made excellent patrol guards back when I was a nin. If they saw something or got killed I would know straight away."

Tsume resisted an urge to laugh evilly as she started to rub her hands in glee, "Excellent. Excellent," she purred out.

Naruto looked at her in sudden fear.

_Oh shit, what have I done?_

* * *

"What do you mean I can't sleep?!"

Tsume put the finishing touches on the roster before giving it a critical look.

"What the hell?! That's like only my name on it," Naruto shouted out in outrage.

"Naruto, you have a special gift. You shouldn't be so selfish about this," Hana said condescendingly.

"I don't see you volunteering to do all the night patrols," he accused.

"I'm not the one with ridiculous amounts of chakra that lets me spam shadow clones," she shot back.

"Pfft, whatever. You do know that my clones don't always listen to me," he said somewhat sourly.

Both the Inuzuka women blinked at that, "What do you mean?"

The blond scratched his head as he tried to explain things to them, "They do things ... selectively at times. It's actually really weird when I think about it."

"Are you telling me that your clones act autonomously from you?" Tsume asked with a small amount of fear.

"What does autonomous mean?" Naruto asked with a creased forehead.

"They do things without any orders?" Hana clarified with a roll of her eyes.

"Well no, they just interpret orders in a weird way if they don't agree with it," Naruto clarified with a troubled look on his face.

"Man, that's pretty messed up," Hana observed.

"Tell me about it," Naruto agreed dryly, "sometimes I think they have different personalities from each other as well."

The women shook their head, unwilling to engage in the existential implications of the jinchuuriki's statement.

"I guess we can't work you like a dog," Tsume conceded sadly.

Hana had a sorrowfully look as she realised her sleep times would remain interrupted by patrols, "Dammit, this is so unfair. But then again, I guess we can't rely on him all the time."

"Are you calling me unreliable?" Naruto asked in indignation.

Tsume waved her hands to placate the blond, "No, it just means that we can't always bank on the fact that you will be around. The MP will have to live beyond all of us and we don't want to refine something that can only happen if you are around."

"I don't think I'm gonna leave anytime soon," he responded dryly.

Hana laughed at that, "Yeah, we know you're earnest. But I'm still confused to why Tsunade let you go as one of her own. If I was the Hokage I wouldn't."

The teen whistled happily, "Eh, she likes me."

Both women sent him coy looks that made him groan and bash his head against the wall.

"No, not like that," he lied.

"Come on, we all know that she has a real soft spot for you," Hana said with a smirk.

"And?" Naruto shot back with exasperation.

"Well, there is also the fact that the two of you are blondes," Tsume said suggestively.

"Ah screw this. I'm not going to listen to this crap. Let me know when you get a timetable where I am not working one hundred hour weeks!"

With that he stormed off while Hana paid particular attention to Naruto's ass as he slammed the door as he exited.

"Daughter, you know that work relationships are very messy."

The younger Inuzuka shrugged her shoulders, "I like him."

"I can see why," answered her mother dryly.

"But seriously, this is like a new dawn for the MP's," she said seriously.

"You mean we an actually do our job properly unlike the half assed efforts that we have been doing for the last three years?"

"Oh be quiet. We did the best that we could with the limited resources available to us," Tsume said defensively.

"And now that Naruto comes knocking on our door..."

Hana smirked one last time before facing her mother, "I hope that's not the only thing he goes knocking on."

* * *

**Somewhere**

"Did you hear the news?"

"Yes, it looks like Konoha's MP service has gotten a ... worthy recruit."

"How will this impact upon our plans?"

"It matters not. Things are too far advanced for any one man to stop us."

"You seem to be very certain of this."

"Do you have any reason to doubt?"

"We have been observing him and his kind for a long time. They can be quite... formidable."

"They are hopeless fools that can not hope to harness the power that is flowing through their veins."

"True, but that is not going to be like that forever."

"That is of little consequence. Things will progress before that will ever be a live issue."

* * *

**Konoha  
Ramen Emporium**

"Another bowl thanks!"

Naruto sat down as he demolished another bowl of miso ramen that was in front of him.

Ayame approached him with another bowl in her hands as she placed it down in front of him before she sat down facing him.

"Ah Ayame-chan! How are you?" he asked happily.

She had a smile on her face as she heard the teen's question, facing her as he ignored the new bowl on the table. She really appreciated the gesture and the fact that he focused on her eyes as he spoke.

"Not much, med school is winding down so I'm gonna be here more often."

"Awesome!" Naruto said with a foxy grin before cocking his head slightly.

"What's wrong?" she asked with some concern.

"How many years has it been since you started studying?" Naruto asked intently.

"Meh, around three I think," hazarded the girl as she tried to remember her first days as an undergraduate.

"Ah, that makes sense. So, when will you be my doctor then?" Naruto asked with a foxy smile.

She blushed slightly at the innuendo that the blond did not intend but gave a disarming smirk before shrugging, "Who knows? Knowing how often you get hurt, you can be my best patient. But then again you do heal quite quickly all by yourself. Is that some kind of bloodline?"

The jinchuuriki grew a bit evasive before nodding, "Kinda. It has always been like that for me. I'm a hard person to kill."

Ayame smiled widely before holding Naruto's hand in her own and spoke seriously, "I don't think that anything can kill you. You're the strongest person that I know."

The boy blushed before giving her a shy smile that she found to be irresistible.

"And you're the first friend that I ever had," he said honestly.

His words touched her heart as she pressed him for more information, "Really?"

"Yep," agreed Naruto sincerely, "hell I was just a lonely orphan that had nothing except you guys and the old man. I don't know what would have happened if you weren't around the place."

Ayame closed her eyes and tried to imagine a Naruto that didn't have any bonds or friends to sustain him throughout his life. She shuddered at all the possibilities that played out.

"What's wrong?" asked the blond.

"Ah nothing!" she said blithely, "Just thinking of the exams I have when I get back to study."

"You'll be fine," reassured Naruto.

"Anyway, I got to get back to work, there being customers and all. Hey, are you free this weekend?"

The boy scratched his head as he tried to think of his timetable, "I think I have some time off, if Hana and Tsume stop being slave drivers," he grumbled out.

She laughed softly before taking the plunge, "Well, I was wondering if you had time to grab some lunch and maybe a movie?"

The MP thought about it before smiling, "Sure, sounds great! What time?"

* * *

"Sorry, you can't have Saturday off."

"Nani?"

"Look, I know that you have been working harder than most people, but we need you Naruto. Konoha needs you."

The blond narrowed his eyes as he stood up, "You know, I really do want to help people. But you can't just screw me like this."

"Whatever do you mean?" Tsume asked innocently.

"I won't do everything for you," he said flatly.

"Don't you want to fight crime and make Konoha a safer place?"

"I could do that as a vigilante," he said dryly.

"Which would be illegal," she pointed out quickly.

"Feh. And who would stop me? You? The Hokage?" he asked dubiously.

"Geez, you didn't have to throw that in my face," she complained.

"The stop making me do these ridiculous things," he demanded indignantly.

"Fine, fine. I guess I have been somewhat unfair with the allocations," she allowed graciously.

"Damned straight!"

* * *

**Konoha  
Hokage's Office **

"How do the statistics look?"

Shizune scratched her head as she tried to understand the data in front of her, "I don't know if they are even reliable in the first place. That requires that a report actually be made when a crime is committed. But judging from this, it seems like there has been a decrease."

"I think putting Naruto into the MP's was the best decision that I ever made," Tsunade said proudly.

"Can you really take credit for that?" Shizune asked with doubt heavily laced in her tone.

The blond Hokage nodded happily, "Yes, absolutely! I foresaw a problem that I didn't even really know about and solved it. Isn't that leadership?"

"..."

"I think this calls for a drink!" she said happily.

Shizune wagged her fingers at her reprovingly, "It's the middle of the day Tsunade-sama!"

"And?"

"It's bad enough that you go off and corrupt Naruto-kun with you ways-"

Hearing the word Naruto and corrupt made Tsunade grin in satisfaction. Shizune notice that and her words trailed as she saw the slight flush upon her face.

"You didn't?!" she screamed in disbelief.

"Whatever do you mean?" asked the Hokage innocently.

Spluttering, the medic scowled angrily before grabbing her paperwork and stormed off.

The blonde blinked at the uncharacteristic anger that her student had just displayed and scratched her head.

_What the hell was that about?_

* * *

_I was starting to make a difference._

_That made me happy, but it made other people mad._

_Like really mad._

_I was disrupting the nice game that they had going after the Uchiha were wiped out. Konoha was open to the yakuza again and they took advantage of the fact._

_I was never really convinced, but Hana said that organised crime had its benefits._

_The yakuza had a sense of honour that regular thieves and murderers didn't._

_Like I said, I wasn't convinced._

_But I changed the game and they were getting antsy._

_They wanted things to go back to the way they were before._

_Too bad._

_They can cry me a river.  
_


End file.
